So my wife and I were leaving wally world today from grocery shopping. Driving out their long driveway and the Chevy truck in front of me turned into their gas station and stopped rapidly, I hit the brakes and proceeded slowly to give him time to pull all the way in. As I'm right behind him, he stops and puts it in reverse. I had another car in front of me, so I laid on the horn. Apparently he didn't hear me, as he backed right into my passenger side rear quarter panel. I pull into the gas station after him and he takes off. I hit it and take off after him. Decide it's not worth trying to chase him, esp since we had a bunch of cold/frozen stuff in the trunk.

We pulled into the local DPS station (small town, about 10k people or less), and they're closed. Go to the local police station and they're closed too!! FFFFFUUUUU!!!. Luckily, they had a non-emergency number on the closed sign so I called that. An officer came out of the station in a minute and got the description and license plate from us. I should add, as we were going to the police station, we saw the truck that hit us sitting at a Shell station and relayed that to the officers.

Officers decided to go by the Shell station and asked us to follow them. As we're on our way there, the truck that hit us passed by going the other way. Cop car flips a bitch and hits the flashers. I wait for traffic to clear, and also pull a U-turn. Find them about 1/2 mile down in the Brookshire's parking lot.

Well...turns out the guy is in the Army, Airborne to be specific. He's insured, and says that he simply didn't realize that he had hit us. For the most part I believe him, but I find the quickness with which he left the scene a little suspicious. The cop writing the report decides to just report it as an accident. Had this guy been a local white trash tweaker type, I probably would have insisted on filing hit and run charges, but he was a clean cut guy in the Airborne. As we're waiting for the cop to get all the info straight, I notice the US Army shirt and Airborne belt buckle. Ask him if he's in the Army, Airborne specifically, and thank him for his service. He was quite apologetic about hitting us. Not a whole lot of damage, but I do have a decent dent in the right rear fender above the wheel. Have to go to the PD tomorrow and pick up the accident report and then go to the insurance office and file a claim. Hopefully, they have a local shop that can fix it without me having to drive my ass to Abilene or Weatherford without a second car to drive.

Could have been worse, but it was my first incident that was a hit and run, so thought I would post about it here.

And in many states, like here in WA, you have to prove beyond a reasonable shadow of a doubt that the other driver was aware there was an accident. It's a very high bar. A hit and run here that I witnessed was thrown out because the driver was in an Escalade and argued that he didn't hear or feel anything when he ran into a Ford F-350 pick-up because of the size of his vehicle and its amount of soundproofing. He hit the truck hard enough to disable it by puncturing the radiator. The prosecutor bought the story and dropped the charges.z

Originally Posted By DoubleARon:If he actually was .mil, he probably knew he hit you, and didn't want to report that he had an accident over labor day weekend to his chain of command.

I have a very hard time believe he didn't know he hit us as his window was rolled all the way down, and I laid on the horn right before and after he hit us. There was quite an audible crunch as well. Oh well, insurance will take care of it. I'm willing to give him the benefit of the doubt since he seemed like a squared away guy. Spent most of the time while waiting for the cop standing "at ease".

Originally Posted By DoubleARon:
If he actually was .mil, he probably knew he hit you, and didn't want to report that he had an accident over labor day weekend to his chain of command.

I have a very hard time believe he didn't know he hit us as his window was rolled all the way down, and I laid on the horn right before and after he hit us. There was quite an audible crunch as well. Oh well, insurance will take care of it. I'm willing to give him the benefit of the doubt since he seemed like a squared away guy. Spent most of the time while waiting for the cop standing "at ease".

Squared away guys don't pull hit and runs.

U.S. Army...When it absolutely positively has to be destroyed in the next fiscal year.

Originally Posted By DoubleARon:If he actually was .mil, he probably knew he hit you, and didn't want to report that he had an accident over labor day weekend to his chain of command.

I have a very hard time believe he didn't know he hit us as his window was rolled all the way down, and I laid on the horn right before and after he hit us. There was quite an audible crunch as well. Oh well, insurance will take care of it. I'm willing to give him the benefit of the doubt since he seemed like a squared away guy. Spent most of the time while waiting for the cop standing "at ease".

Squared away guys don't pull hit and runs.

Yep. And you can always tell who they are; belt buckles and matching t-shirts usually do it.

Originally Posted By Keymaster4225:I pull into the gas station after him and he takes off. I hit it and take off after him. Decide it's not worth trying to chase him, esp since we had a bunch of cold/frozen stuff in the trunk.

So if he claims he didn't realize that he had hit you, how fast was he driving away from the gas station that you couldn't catch up to him?

fuckin shitbag. If he jammed from the scene in a hurry, chances are he knew exactly what happened and he lied to your face. 99% of the time, people are correct in their first observations, I'd say you shouldve hammered him to the wall. I see illegals do this all the time, for a soldier to be doing this is ridiculous.